Chapter 1

I miscarried in a pool of blood right after my latest agonizing IVF embryo transfer.

I called my husband, Ethan Vance, dozens of times. Every single call was instantly declined.

On my last attempt, he finally picked up.

"Ethan, please, help me. The baby... I'm bleeding---"

Before I could even finish, Ethan interrupted me, his voice dripping with impatience.

"Maya, are you seriously doing this right now? I told you, Hailey has a massive plumbing emergency at her house. I'm over here trying to fix it so her basement doesn't flood. Stop calling me over nothing."

With a harsh click, he hung up.

My heart shattered. Beneath the hospital sheets, the warm blood kept pooling, cold and relentless.

It turned out our seven-year marriage was nothing but a one-woman show, and I was the only fool on stage.

Ethan didn't show up at the hospital until noon the next day. Right behind him was his childhood best friend, Hailey.

"Maya! What happened? How could you just start bleeding out like this?"

"Is... is our baby okay?"

Ethan had a low sperm count. The doctors had told him it would be nearly impossible for him to ever have a child of his own.

When we first got the diagnosis years ago, he had collapsed to his knees, sobbing into my lap. He said a man who couldn't have kids would be whispered about forever. He said he was sorry to his parents, and sorry to me.

My heart had ached for him. To save his pride, I spent years visiting countless fertility clinics, subjecting my body to endless, painful hormone shots and IVF procedures.

This time, the embryo had finally taken. But I never imagined this tiny spark of life wouldn't even survive a month inside me.

I lay in the sterile hospital bed, pale and hollow, watching Ethan play the part of the devastated father.

It was almost comical.

The nurse on duty heard the commotion and walked in. Seeing Ethan's theatrical grief, she sighed softly, her voice filled with pity.

"It's a tragedy. The doctor said if you had arrived just ten minutes earlier, we might have been able to save the pregnancy."

Hearing this, Hailey took a step forward, putting on her best puppy-dog eyes.

"Maya... I know you've always hated me. But you shouldn't have neglected your own body and lost the baby just to punish Ethan for helping me with my pipes! You know how much this child meant to him! Ethan, I'm so sorry... It's all my fault. I'll stay away from you guys. I won't ever show my face again!"

With a melodramatic sob, Hailey turned and ran out of the room.

Without a second thought, Ethan spun on his heel to chase after her. He only paused at the door, giving me a brief, dismissive glance.

"Hailey is too unstable to be out there alone in the city. Rest up here, Maya. I'll be back to keep you company in a bit."

I lay in that freezing hospital bed for six long hours. As the anesthesia wore off, the raw, cramping physical pain was so intense that cold sweat drenched my hospital gown.

Around dusk, my phone rang.

It was the security desk downstairs. They said my car was blocking the emergency ambulance lane and I needed to move it immediately.

I tried to call Ethan. Out of service. Again.

Knowing a life could be at stake, I forced my weak, trembling body out of bed. Clutching my lower abdomen, I dragged myself down to the parking lot.

But when I reached my car, I froze.

Under the dim streetlights, Ethan was holding Hailey tightly in his arms. Hailey, who claimed to suffer from severe clinical depression, was clinging to his chest.

She looked up, seeing me stand there in the cold, and let out a soft, fragile gasp.

"Maya, I'm so sorry... My divorce papers were finalized today. Ethan was just terrified I'd do something reckless. That's the only reason he stayed."

Ethan's face hardened. He glared at me, his eyes full of sharp accusation.

"What are you doing running around right after surgery? Hailey is incredibly fragile right now. Can't you be a little considerate for once?"

I stared at his wrist.

Specifically, at the blessed silver St. Christopher medal hanging there.

"Do you even remember what I was going through in the operating room today?" I whispered, my voice cracking.

His posture stiffened for a fraction of a second.

But Hailey gripped his jacket even tighter, her voice trembling. "Maya, you can always get pregnant again in the future. But if Ethan hadn't been with me today, I wouldn't even be alive."

Ethan didn't hesitate.

Right in front of my face, he unclasped the silver medal---the one I had stood in a freezing rainstorm for five hours to get blessed by the bishop---and fastened it gently around Hailey's neck.

It turned out his devotion was never meant for me alone.